CURRENT MISSION

I am thinking about becoming an ambassador

ABOUT ME

I lived from the onset of my early teenage years in North Jutland Denmark, which is where I learned to skate on ice. Initially I was in the city of Aalborg, with a couple whose son had worked in the electrical subcontracting business that my family owned and ran in the South Pacific. Subsequently where the Danish authorities determined I was an abandoned foreign national minor, I became a ward of the Danish state administered under a refugee programme and was moved to a rural boarding school. I worked on a neighbouring farm, drove heavy machinery, milked cows, helped with the harvest, learned to play guitar, sang in the school choir, studied hard, read a great deal, and competed in 1500 m running races. At the end of that four year period I had visited the UK, the U.S., Norway, Sweden on several occasions and Germany once. I graduated Danish language secondary school, by which time my Father who was of Welsh and New Zealand Maori origin had resettled in the United Kingdom, and my Mother had moved from Hawaii to the continental United States. The choices facing me were to remain in Denmark where I wanted to join the airforce, move to the UK where I had a place at Agricultural school, or go to the U.S where I had in mind trying my luck in music.

I chose the United States and started out in young adult life in a highrise condo with my mother and her American husband on Lakeshore drive in Chicago. I moved from there into the first of several rudimentarily converted light industrial buildings, which remained the normal mode of living for young urban American artists. I became a recording and performing artist, a rhythm guitar player, singer and songwriter in new wave rock bands, while supporting myself in a variety of jobs including bicycle and motorcycle messenger and on hardware store loading docks to supplement, until later moving through internships at Columbia College, where I studied arts, entertainment, music and media management with additional classes in theatre and music theory, into working in film, music and theatre venues. I began to paint with oil and acrylics on canvas and modelled for other painters. I became involved in 12 step recovery circles (Oxford group related), under the mentorship of a college tutor, who was also a member of the groups.

After a year in London in my later twenties where I worked on ice cream vans, at Cranks Vegetarian restaurant, and the Hard Rock Café, I returned to Chicago for another year, reading in the open mikes, working in the clubs and in catering. I then moved to California, for four years, where I studied International Relations at San Francisco State University and worked; as a line cook, in newspaper distribution, antiquarian booksales, airport shuttle van driving and dispatching, as well as at a three year part time job shelving foreign language literature and literary criticism at the main public library in San Francisco, a job I gained by virtue of having a European education in a largely monolingual culture, and which was, and remains to this day, a great source of supplementary education and inspiration, from which I read widely. I studied and began to use Spanish informally with local shopkeepers and food vendors. I wrote for spoken word performance, m.c'ed a regular poetry open mike, competed in the poetry slams, ran in the bay to breakers, organised an informal tennis group on the municipal courts, painted with oil and enamel on canvas as well as outside murals, made indoor and outdoor installation pieces, while again living in commercial use buildings.

Returning to Denmark I worked in job training schemes; in a museum, in forestry and market gardening, and took classes in Danish language for adult foreigners, enrolling in a 'Gymnasium' with a variety of modules but did not complete after separating from a Danish partner, and thereby losing my right to residency. I drew with oil crayon on paper, painted and made installation work with scavenged, discarded materials and continued to write longer pieces. I became involved again in 12 step groups (Danish and English speaking) active in the committees. I participated in local running races including half marathons, and lived again in artist space in the inner city. I then worked for Thai Buddhist monks functioning as a driver to various embassies and countries in Northern Europe after practicing Samadhi and Vipassana meditation, until leaving Denmark for the UK.

I have now lived in Britain continuously for ten years. In this time I have acquired: citizenship, certificates in; Japanese, Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, Access to Higher Education, as well as Higher Education credits in classical Greek and Islamic Studies. I have voluntarily managed a community art gallery (also exhibiting my own work), and an art house cinema, where I provided a space for other artists to exhibit in the foyer. I became for the first time involved at national and international level in the organisation of 12 step groups, managing events based on recovery themes including hosting the UK national committee, and chairing a literature subcommittee.

I currently live in a tower block housing association flat in city centre Birmingham after again spending some years in (the basement of) a Buddhist temple. I attend language classes several days a week, making daily use of learning facilities, including satellite television, at the college. I spend my free time otherwise; at the cinema; at the library; reading open source material; listening to the world service, radio 3 & 4. I am a member of a local health club where I swim, run, and do yoga. In periods I road cycle on my own, or with a group. I stay in touch, via email and telephone with my immediate family in the Americas, likewise with friends and family living in different cities and countries. I sometimes still write prose poetry and make visual art pieces. I write a movie blog.

PHILOSOPHY

"If you have a problem you cannot solve, enlarge the context." Jean Monnet

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well so far I have hosted some people and am about to host some more. I want to look into this nomadic thing though and make contact with a group in Denmark.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have hosted a couple from Denmark and another couple from Sweden, and made one attempt so far unsuccessful to meet with my local couchsurfing group.

Interests

Movies. I see a lot of movies and blog them.

I am studying languages of the Mediterranean and working towards a degree in Mediterranean studies.

• arts
• culture
• literature
• poetry
• performing arts
• education
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• clubbing
• gardening
• movies
• reading
• blogging
• painting
• music
• guitar
• spoken word
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• muslim
• tennis
• swimming
• business
• communications
• teaching
• forestry
• international relations
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movie: The Good Shepherd.
Music: Grieg.
Book: Don Quijote.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I hiked the Grand Canyon of Arizona that was pretty cool.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have experience of living in different countries and negotiating differences in cultures. I am still working on that through the study of languages.

I am extremely internetic.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, Fiji, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Denmark, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States

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